Sundowns prepare for Jwaneng Champions League showdown

Mamelodi Sundowns are sitting comfortably at the summit of the DStv Premiership going into the Christmas break, but business for the year is not quite done.

READ MORE: Sundowns, Arrows finish 2020 in a stalemate

The Brazilians still have to travel to Botswana to take on Jwaneng Galaxy tomorrow in the first leg of a final qualifier for the group stages of the Caf Champions League.

Downs are coming off the back of a 1-1 draw against Golden Arrows on Saturday and will look to take their scoring form in the league into the Champions League, as they are the highest scoring team in the DStv Premiership with 16 goals.

“The league and the Champions League are completely different projects and on the one hand we have the feeling of being unbeaten and being log leaders but no title is won at this moment, so that is why we have to treat it like an isolated situation,” said Sundowns co-head coach Rulani Mokwena on the meeting with Jwaneng.

“It is disappointing that we only took one point against Arrows and the players are not happy, the spirit was not good and that is very good because we are champions and we have a winning mentality.”

Sundowns’ goal against Arrows came courtesy of a Mothobi Mvala header, who scored on debut and Mokwena believes there is still a lot more to come from him.

“Mvala did his best, he has got a lot to offer the team. He is still within the adaptation phase and we have to induct him to the style of play of Sundowns, because he comes from a different style of football at Highlands Park, but he has got good characteristics to adapt.

“For him to score a goal on his debut and a goal from a set-piece should be encouraging for him,” Mokwena added, before he showered some praise on Grant Margerman, who also made his debut.

“He shows that he has the right mentality and the right quality and I am sure that with better conditioning and a little bit of game time we will see the best of Grant. He has got the potential and we have got to maximise the support and make sure that we help him to stay injury free and to reach peak condition, so that he can perform even better.”

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